gluten-free buckwheat crepes

Sometimes, when life feels complicated, it helps to go back to the simple things.

Sunlight on a wooden floor.

Dancing to Aretha Franklin, then stopping to belt it out with her.

Talking late into the night, vulnerable, saying exactly what is.

Sleeping in.

Lunch with Lucy, the three of us sitting at the little Sesame Street table, Danny and I hunched in the tiny chairs, laughing while she does ridiculous voices to say “I love you!”

Buckwheat crêpes.

It has been a big week around here. I finished all the recipes for our next cookbook, plus all the headnotes and endnotes. Written, edited, collated, double-checked, and sent.

Sent.

(I still have to finish some essays that will live around those recipes. Next Monday I will be done with the cookbook.)

Normally, that would be enough for the week. Right?

This week, Danny left his cooking job.

It has been awhile coming. I don’t want to say why. There’s no need. Instead, I’ll say that he wasn’t happy, for many reasons. He kept at being head chef for months, even when he suspected it wasn’t the right place for him. He wanted to do the right thing, to bring in money, to feel secure.

But there reaches a point where doing something because an imposed voice says you should? It just doesn’t satisfy.

“What ultimately kills us isn’t one big thing, but the accumulation of a thousand tiny obligations we can’t say no to for fear of offending.”  Alain de Botton

So, he left.

There’s fear in a big leap, of course. But eventually, choosing to jump with the fear on your back helps to blow it off into the canyon. I haven’t seen him this happy and relaxed in a long time.

(By the way, please don’t worry about us. We’ve been saving. We have some big plans, cool things brewing that we can’t share with you yet. We’re fine.)

With Danny no longer working as a restaurant chef, and the book being almost done, and turning in the last of the paperwork for the adoption this week, and moving to a new home on the island next week? We’re breathing. We’re talking. We’re dancing.

And Danny has been making crêpes.

It has been awhile since we did a Danny video. He’s been at the restaurant 10 to 12 hours a day. There hasn’t been time. But now, you’ll be seeing more of them. This site really is going back to being Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

We’ve been making crêpes because we love them but also because it’s crêpes month for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally. We’ve been so busy that we haven’t been able to participate in months  sort of dreadful since the rally was my idea in the first place!  but here we are. Crêpes.

Crêpes are the easiest food in the world to make by ratio. I’m not kidding. The idea behind ratios is that each baked good, and many other foods, have a ratio as their backbones: so many parts of flour to another part of eggs to another part of liquids. Here is the ratio for crêpes:

2 parts liquid

2 parts eggs

1 part flour

A large egg weighs 2 ounces, so we’ll use that as our starting point. That means for this ratio you’d use 2 eggs (4 ounces), 4 ounces of milk, and 2 ounces of flour. That makes 2 full-size crêpes (of course, that depends on the size of the pan you use to cook them). So, if you want more, all you have to do is double or triple or quadruple the ratio.

8 ounces liquid

4 large eggs

4 ounces flour

That’s it. That’s all you need to make crêpes by ratio. Add a pinch of salt and you have a crêpe batter. I’m not kidding. That’s it.

And to cook them? Equally easy. Let Danny show you how.

See how easy it is?

One note here on the buckwheat. Most commercial buckwheat flours are toasted, which can be a pleasant taste or it can be a slightly bitter burnt taste. But it’s not a quiet taste. It dominates. Moreover, some of those buckwheat flours might be cross-contaminated with gluten. (We love Bob’s Red Mill and all their flours. However, you should know that their buckwheat flour is ground in the facility with gluten rather than the gluten-free facility.) For a couple of years, I thought that meant no buckwheat flour. However, the wonderful Ali Segersten from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen turned me onto raw buckwheat flour. We use raw buckwheat groats and grind them into flour. It’s simple. The groats are soft enough that you can put them in a blender, a few ounces at a time, and let them grind up. You might have to sift them through a fine-mesh sieve then blend them again. It’s worth it, though. Right now, buckwheat is one of my absolute favorite flours.

Crêpes are wonderfully easy to make. Don’t let the circumflex in the word or the French pronunciation prevent you from making these. Once you know the ratio, you can make any kind of crepes you want. The ratio itself calls for liquid, so you could make these with cashew milk or soy milk or heavy cream, if you want. You could also try a gluten-free beer crêpe.

Making the crêpe batter. Whisk together the milk and eggs. Add the buckwheat flour. Pinch in the salt. Whisk them together fully.

You could make the crêpes immediately, if you want. We usually like to make the batter a couple of hours ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator, allowing the flavors to mingle fully. If you do this, be sure to whisk the batter fully before cooking the crêpes. Any starches in the gluten-free flour mix tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Cooking the crêpes. Set a large cast-iron skillet over low heat. Slowly, bring it up to medium-high heat. Put some of the coconut oil in the hot skillet. When the oil has melted, swirl in some of the crêpe batter (Danny suggests about 2 ounces, if you want to measure it). Tilt the skillet back and forth until the batter covers the entire surface. When the edges are set and starting to curl up from the pan, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, run a metal spatula under all the edges of the crêpe. Flip the crêpe. Cook for 30 seconds then turn the crêpe out onto a cutting board or plate.

Repeat with the remaining crêpe batter.

Makes 4 to 6 crêpes.

Feel like playing?

This is the plain version of these crêpes so you can add to them and make them your own. I love the idea of black pepper buckwheat crêpes, or cardamom and lemon zest crêpes, or cinnamon-nutmeg crêpes.

96 comments on “gluten-free buckwheat crepes”

Love Buckwheat and can’t wait to make these crepes! Especially excited about the how to video’s! Video is a great way to learn stuff. Now I have plans for the morning, watching all of the videos on your channel!

Oh, that feeling of liberation from something that has been causing creeping unhappiness is unlike any other! What a joyful time for your family! Best wishes for a smooth move and quick adoption process!! I’m looking forward to more videos. 🙂

The crepes look yummy, I’ll have to try them this weekend. We make lots of pancakes and waffles around these here parts, but rarely crepes.

Can I ask a question about fats? When and why do you use coconut oil (which is really the consistency of shortening, isn’t it?)? What is special about it? We use canola, olive oil and butter in our house, how am I limiting my cooking?

For me, I use coconut oil where you would use canola (probably). Canola isn’t a healthy oil in my understanding, but coconut oil is. It’s quite versatile and it does become liquid at warmer temperatures, even in my cupboard so it’s not like hydrogenated shortening which is a very bad fat. You can use coconut oil in either solid or liquid state, which is really nice. It’s great too if you’re doing something dairy free.

If you can, google or bing or whatever flavor you like “coconut oil”. Although it does have the consistency of shortening, it is supposed to have anti-bacterial/fungal/viral properties and is not a hydrogenated fat.

Canola is a genetically modified plant. There is good/bad/otherwise info regarding GMO foods and some fairly nasty [to me] info regarding a large U.S. corporation’s involvement in patent of the seed. (I am a U.S. citizen – born here of parents born here :)! ) I have stopped using Canola but that is a personal decision each must make.

The first time I had buckwheat crepes was in Charlottesville Va, with my Celiac brother. You can watch them make the crepes from the large open window at this street side shack. I opted for a savory stuffing, spinach, turkey, cheese and dried cranberry. I was in heaven. Since then Tina has mastered making them at home. They are one of those stand at the kitchen counter kind of foods, eating right out of the pan, scooping up the drippings with your fingers. Danny’s video make them look so easy to turn but I gotta say, no so easy. Regardless they are wonderful and worth trying!

Sometimes we have to leap off we the absolute faith that a net will appear. And I am sure there are only bigger and better things to come for both of you. Adorable video. You both look so happy to just be together.

I’m having trouble with your math. 🙂 If in the example you are using 2 oz eggs as “1 part” (since you said two parts was 4 oz of eggs and liquid) should then the flour be 2 oz? It appears just to be a mistake, as the ratio in the larger recipe is 2/2/1.

I love crepes, and make them often, have to try buckwheat though. I add about 1/2 TBSP of sugar to mine (but I’m not GF, so they have all-purpose flour).

Best of luck to you and Danny and Lucy on your new adventures! Can’t wait for the cookbook.

Crepes always remind me of my mother, so I always end up calling her when I’m making them. They were always the weekend breakfast treat for special occasions when I was growing up, and I watched her make them so many times that I got the hang of it almost instantly when I finally made my own. For the record, I find no need to use so many eggs – my mum’s recipe (if you can call it that, since it’s one of those things she makes without measuring) requires one, and then enough milk to get the right consistency. I’ve even made them without eggs and they’ve turned out just fine. One last tip: you *must* have buckwheat crepes with some creamed spinach (and maybe ham and a poached egg) – this is the way I had them in Nice and they’re divine.

I applaud Danny’s decision to quite his job when it was clear that it was not a good fit. I think Shauna and Danny are wise to save in anticipation for this event.

But that first quote is unrealistic. Everyday, people work jobs that the do not like to pay their mortgage, put food on the table, or provide for their family. It doesn’t make them slaves. It makes them normal.

I am going to try these today! I love you website and recipes. Five years ago I found out I was allergic to wheat. Now however I have found out I am allergic to tons more. Eliminating the problem foods has helped but I am struggling to really embrace theses changes. Now avoiding wheat, rice, corn, soy, almond, peanuts, hazelnuts, and coconut just to name a few. Your website has helped me try to be more creative and accept that this is doable.

Oh, and I use Arrowhead Mills buckwheat flour all of the time without any problems. It’s labeled gluten free, but I don’t see any certification on the package. I give it my personal certification though. I’ve been using it for a long time, and I always know when I’ve encountered gluten.

Crepes have become my comfort food since I went GF. The recipe I have always used (from my French friend) has the same ratio and was easy to convert to GF. The only difference is that the fat is melted and added to the batter AND the pan is greased. Helps tremendously to have a well-greased pan to aid the “flip.” Cheers for a good recipe and wonderful food. Best wishes for a new beginning.

Fantastic! Can’t wait to make them. If you’re visiting London UK at any point, there’s a French crepe restaurant in Richmond, SW London, that only uses buckwheat. Now I can make them at home too, thank you.

Congrats on the exciting changes for your family, and for having the courage to make the changes. I am a new fan, and really enjoying your amazing website. Thanks for such a wonderful resource for GF information.

LOVE the video! You two are great together, but then…you already knew that! Love the new format and thanks for the video on how to cook Crepes…could never get them to work…was trying to hard! you make it look very simple…thanks and keep up the good cooking!

I first discovered the light colored (unroasted) buckwheat at a local farmers market. Now I make it in my Vitamix and buy the groats at the health food store. The Arrowhead brand is probably toasted, the untoasted is a very neutral flavor, more like brown rice or sorghum flour. I’ve been making buckwheat crepes using water instead of milk, they’re more crispy around the edges. Both are good though.

What an amazing time for you & your family. Best of luck on the book. These crepes sound great. I am so happy to have found your blog. My daughter is recently GF and your blog has been a huge source of yummy food for us. Thanks for inspiring!

The buckwheat is hadrer than regular wheat flour, therefore it’s not as soft or light as a regular roti. When I want a slightly softer roti, I use a mix of spelt flour and buckwheat flour. You have to play around with the ratios to get it just right. Though, I do manage to roll up this roti with only slight breakage. It’s worth it! Let me know how it turns out.

I have been missing frozen burritos. Yeah, yeah, I know those store-bought brands aren’t healthy but when I was in college I LIVED off of those things and always had a stash in my freezer. Tried making burritos with those Brown Rice tortillas and it was disastrous.

THESE CREPES, however; just might be the wrapper I have been looking for! I wonder if I can make a stash of bean and cheese burritos in crepes, wrap them well, freeze them and then pop them in the micro for a quick meal on the go? Hmmm. I’ll report back…

Springtime and new beginnings… hope both are full of joy and happiness! On a practical note: I’m in the market for a new blender, and it would be nice if i could find one that blends buckwheat groats without burning out – would you recommend the one that you use?! Thanks a million and best of luck with all endeavours. e

I am delighted for Danny – it takes a lot of guts… but sometimes you just KNOW that you need to take a leap. You guys are so smart and talented. Follow those gluten-free guts… we are all looking forward to seeing what comes next.

There is a creperie in my office building that makes wonderful buckwheat crepes, and they are very sensitive to cross-contamination. I’ve never gotten sick from their food. There’s something so comforting about yummy ingredients folded inside a warm crepe (especially when melty cheese is involved, for some reason). Thanks for posting this recipe, now I can make them at home!

I just made these and they are delicious! I have tried making buckwheat crepes before and they have never worked out. I used a mixture of rice and coconut milk as we are diary free and my boys gobbled them up! Thank you all the way from Australia.

What a beautiful, heartfelt post. Change is frightening, yes, but it is also liberating. So wonderful to see how the glass is more than half full for you and your family and I am personally excited for all the new developments in your lives. Thank you for sharing, Shauna, and thank you for the video, Danny. The crepes look absolutely gorgeous. 🙂

I love you. Seriously. And this video makes me love you guys even more! You are precious. No wonder you’re so head over heals for this guy! Ha! Thanks for the gift you give to all of us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Holy moses, what a great first post for me to read on this blog. Crepes is on my top-five missed foods, no matter how much I water down the pancake batter it’s never the same. Adding to my recipe file.

My family calls these Swedish pancakes, because we hail from peasant stock in the cold, snowy lands to the North and don’t like to presume too much. I made them this morning for breakfast with King Arthur’s GF AP flour because that was what was on hand and easy.
Then I schmeared Nutella in there because my wee little children looked at me with large eyes and said “please” and aren’t I trying to encourage polite asking behavior?

Good heavens these were good! And they taste just exactly like Grandma Dorothy’s!

Made these this weekend – were delicious! For breakfast, we enjoyed these with a simple fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries and raspberries) sauce. Had about half the batch left over, so I made my favourite spinach, mushroom, cheese filling, baked in oven for 15 minutes had a delicious, quick and easy dinner on the table in less than half an hour:) I like these crepes a lot – the batter is the perfect consistency and very easy to flip. I only recently became gluten free (beginning of January) and these taste just as good as my gluten version (nuttier in flavour) and were much easier to flip.

your crepes look delicious! I can’t wait to check out some of the others… I just got a real crepe- machine! (I think thats what you call those round block type things) and anyway, I’m excited to get making crepes!

This is such a fantastic resource! I have been making crepes for myself for a little while now because I find they are so easy to make! My favorite so far are my Red Thai Curry Crepes so spicy and Apple Cinnamon with Maple Almond crumble for a sweet treat! I love experimenting and I can’t wait to try these recipes!

Hello GFG, Chef & Lu, Sending so much L*O*V*E to you!
2 Questions:
#1. I love the ratio idea, but can’t yet get my head around it. (I think because ounce is used for both weight & volume)
So…Crepes by RATIO::
2 parts liquid/2 parts eggs/1 part flour
Is the ratio by all their weights?
In the notes you said 1 egg is is ~ 2 oz. (so eggs by weight, altho given in quantity for a large egg, which =2 oz.)
I think someone said in a previous comment that water & milk are the same volume so you get 8 oz WEIGHT, by measuring 8 oz. VOLUME of milk.
And the flour threw me off… you are encouraging us to use scales. So I assume, you are saying flour 1 part by WEIGHT? Is this correct?
( I think this “April Fool” has sussed it out. “All who wander are not lost!” hee, hee! Hopefully, this clarification will help others as well.)
#2: A question:
Macrina Bakery Flourless Chocolate Torte…What SIZE Spring Form Pan?
PS I am house sitting and they have a gorgeous cast iron crepe pan, which started this hunt for a healthy buckwheat “Galette” Better get that batter started, so I can let it “sit.” YUM!!!! So much FUN!

WHOOPS! While I was letting the crepe batter “rest” I was exploring your links & got clued in…Everything is by weight! (almost) Makes sense, especially with Flours weighing such different things.
Still would love to know the SIZE Spring Form pan for your decadent, delicious & GF Macrina Flourless Chocolate Torte.
PS LOVED your description & elimination of the xanthum & guar gums. Keeping it simple works well for me!

A SECRET TO FLIPPING CREPES…okay, I wanted to share something back to you, since you have shared such great stuff…In my search for the ultimate Buckwheat Crepe/Galette, I decided to look up some traditional recipes. Voila! I found a woman who had worked in a restaurant making crepes. This is so basic, once you hear it, but a great tip.
When you are rubbing the oil or butter around the pan with a paper towel, ALSO DAB SOME ON THE SPATULA! (makes so much sense! Not a lot, just a little. Not necessary, just a helpful hint! xxoo

Wow! I have been following a restrictive allergy diet for the past month, and in search of something I could eat, and something the rest of my family would enjoy… and I found it!
Luckily I had some whole buckwheat here, and ground it up in my vitamix, and we had a great Easter brunch! Thanks!

Just finished dinner. The buckwheat crepes were great for dessert with baked apple filling and chocolate ganache drizzled on top. I cooked them at a lower heat than Danny because I’m not as good as he is and didn’t want to burn them. It took longer but they came out really well. Thanks so much. The ratio thing worked out well – better than the ones I tried a couple of weeks ago.

I just wanted to thank you for this ratio recipe!!! I used a GF flour blend I had on hand and whipped up a batch for myself the other day!! I stuffed those suckers with a creamed spinach I had made the previous night for dinner guests. My creamed spinach was made by sauteing leeks, garlic and mushrooms til nice and toasty, then adding 1 lb of frozen chopped spinach along with a bit a concentrate broth I had on hand. A little S&P and nutmeg to bring out the goodness. Covered and poached, then added a bit of heavy cream and 1/2 n 1/2 to bring up the creamy goodness. When warmed through, I added about 2 T of basil, fresh my my garden!! Goddess gracious it was good the first night with the pork tenderloin, but it blew my taste buds out the water the next day in the crepes. Ohhh, and I added a bit of goat cheese and ham to the crepe/spinach before rolling. Ohhhh and I always take pics of my food too!!

I am so grateful for being gluten-free when I eat these crèpes. We used to eat normal crèpes made with wheat flour which are, let’s face it, pretty bland and nutrient-free. Now we’ve been eating these for a couple of years (buckwheat crèpes are quite common in France) – they taste better and buckwheat is so rich in minerals, amino acids etc that it’s a win-win 🙂

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Hi. My name is Shauna James Ahern. I am alive.
I have been alive since August of 1966. Or, should
I say, I have been on this earth since then.